colonoscopie colonoscopies. >> we'll continue this conversation, congresswoman. we'll see what happens later tonight. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. i'll be here throughout the night with updates on all the elections. in the meantime, crossfire starts right now. tonight on crossfire, an election with 2016 implications. is chris christi the republicans' best chance of broadening their base or ill ineighting it? >> after four years of me, if they don't know me, they haven't been paying attention? and what does it mean in virginia? on the left, van jones, on the right, newt gingrich. in the crossfire. what message are the voters sending today? and who will listen?

tonight on crossfire. welcome to crossfire. i'm van jones on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. in the crossfire, we're just a full half hour from the closings of the polls on election night. if the pre-election polling turns out to be accurate, there will be two big winners tonight, chris christi and hillary clinton. the fact is the democrats who might win in new york and virginia certainly seem to be ahead, are boast allies of hillary clinton. i think she may have as big a night as chris christi. >> i think that's possibly true. and i think if chris christi has a big night, he should enjoy it because my view is, this is his high watermark. i am happy to have people to help us. in the crossfire, donna brazil

along with john bray bender. i want to go to you. you were santorum's guy. are the republicans going to fall for this stunt that chris christi has pulled off? >> he is going to come to you. he's going to say, i'm the guy that can get the women and the young people. but the way he did it, he ran up the numbers by ducking cory booker, making sure they spent millions of dollars that cory could win his own little race so no democrats can turn out. are you going to join the cult of chris christi? >> chris christie's going to win unanimously. but there's a couple other things too. what a lot of people are going to try to write tomorrow was that it was a moderate one. and the republicans are going to move to the center. i don't think that's what happened. a reformer won in new jersey. someone who was going to bring fiscal sanity back.

the ultimate paradox, though, as people start talking about 2016 is what sometimes makes you a national candidate doesn't necessarily make you somebody who can win in places like south carolina or iowa or -- >> we'll get to that. i want to press you on this stuff. i think there's a big myth about chris christi. this guy has the worst bond rating of almost any state. jobs are down. probably taxes are up. he's got this big personality. there's not much behind it. he's never really been in a heavyweight fight. do you think he's going to be able to trick republicans into supporting him and collapse in the general? >> i think it's premature to talk about anybody. we went through this. anybody who talks about president michelle bachman, president herman cain, i mean all these things, we see this. but there's a legitimacy because of chris christi, he went into a tough situation and did what he said he was going to do. take the pension issue, things

like that. delivered three straight balanced budgets without raising taxes. at a time when it's not a great time to be a governor. believe me, they are all looking for revenues. he did a great job. >> let me ask you this. you've been a professional for a long time. isn't it a relatively impressive thing for christi to have taken on the unions, done the things he has done but then be winning by 18 to 25% tonight in a blue state which has not given a republican a majority i think since 1988. >> look, governor christi is very charismatic. he's comfortable in his own skin. there's no question that he's benefitted from the fact that national democrats did not challenge him. and inside the state of new jersey democrats were divided. there were a lot of democrats that he cut deals with that supported him that may not support him if he runs for president. so chris christi will have a big

victory. i don't know if it will be as big as he thinks it will be. i don't think it will be transferrable to the republicans in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina or any place else. meanwhile, in virginia, terry mcauliffe has a unified fight. he used the same playbook that president obama used to win virginia, increasing the electorate, bringing out young people, bringing out minorities, bringing out women, and he painted his opponent as somebody who was right weng, a fringe candidate, an extremist and j unacceptable to a moderate state. >> i think you have to look at these races as two completely different races. number one, you have an incumbent people already knew. the problem with cuccinelli, he was with down and had no brand equity, which meant that the

democrats can come in very early and define him as they did as an extremist, and frankly, i never thought he did an effective enough job introducing himself to the voters and getting rid of that. second of all, unlike new jersey where christi was seen as independent, i do think the republicans shot themselves in the foot on some of their antics in washington and had a much bigger impact on this race, and it wasn't until cuccinelli started to make obama care the main issue that he started to improve in the polls. >> i don't know if he's improving. because the latest poll still shows that terry has an advantage over him. now wouldn't you agree that both mr. mcauliffe and mr. christi are proudly embraced president obama because one thing you'll notice in new jersey that governor christi did not attack president obama, again, trying to attract some of the, what i call minority voters. >> i would disagree with

embrace. because i think he was respectful. and i think, frankly, on the republican side, that is something we should be better at. i will tell you, we are very critical of obama care right now. there has never been a better time for republicans to say not only do we know it's a disaster and america thinks it's a disaster but here's a better solution. what chris christi has done, is he had people who don't always agree with him, at least like him because he showed some respect for the president when he came there with the hurricane and those type of things. and numbers change when that happens. >> i am grlad he was there durig the storm. the other thing is that your party by your own admission here seems to be quite divided. even christi has to defend himself. we've got sound of christi trying to defend himself. >> a lot of tea partiers i've heard from think that you're an rino, republican in name only.

>> listen, you know, that's some folks who will say if you ever say anything nice about a democrat you're an ri ncht o. they call me whatever they want. i don't care. my view is let people judge me by my record. >> here you got this guy, your party's superstar, and he's still having this problem where he's not good enough for a big party or your party. how do you respond to that? >> i think exit polls today show he got 80% of the tea party vote. those who see him as a reformer, they do like him for that. second of all, the real problem with our party is two-fold in my mind. one is we really don't have a message. he had results. that was his message. but second of all, we do not understand demographics. and what everybody's trying to say is how do we broaden the playing field. and what he did well is appealed to middle class, blue collar workers. and they said he understands my life and he's fighting for it.

the president every six months trumps up tax increases for the wealthy. >> i guess the question is really to newt gingrich, what kind of conservative is chris christi? and will he be able, you know, the republican electorate better than anyone, can he really find a home in the modern republican party outside of new jersey. >> i think chris christi in new jersey is very comparable to scott walker in wisconsin. they both took on the employee unions. they're both tough guys. they have different styles. they don't have exactly the same style, but i think christi can legitimately come to the country and say thrat he is committed t this. but part of what i wanted to get to ask you is christi is a candidate of change. and one of the senator,

secretary, first lady clinton's challenges that after 20 years on the national scene, it will be a little trick eye for her to run in 2016 as the candidate of change. >> we're going to talk about that in when we get back and a couple other things as well. i think the future of the democratic party may be in a place that's going to surprise you. may not be in the clinton family. may be in new york city. honestly, i'm a little old fashioned. i love chalk and erasers. but change is coming. all my students have the brand new surface. it has the new windows and comes with office, has a real keyboard, so they can do real work. they can use bing smartsearch to find anything in the world... or last night's assignment. and the battery lasts and lasts, so after school they can skype, play games, and my favorite...do homework. change is looking pretty good after all. ♪ change is looking pretty good after all. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened

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at the opposite of the tea party. you may never heard of the working family party. it backed bill de blasio big time. and if he wins tonight, the wfp is going to be on everybody's radar screen and they could soon have a tea party-size role. you've got grassroots dynamics, on the right you have the tea party, you have the wfp. >> sounds like mma. you said they're the opposite of the tea party, what does that mean when you say that, what is the tea party to you? >> the tea party to me is a party that believes in liberty, whereas progressives believes in liberty and justice for all. >> you don't think the tea party believes in justice. >> i believe in liberty. as an african-american, you

don't have to work hard to sell me on liberty. but we say liberty and justice for all. that means you have to worry about low income people, lesbians and gays. that's been left out of the tea party. >> i think that is oftentimes the perception, but i think it's an unfair perception. what tea party believes is very much freedom and responsibility as well, that means a responsibility to help your neighbors and not let people fall behind. what do you think the tea party is? >> i think they're the most destructive force in american politics. in the beginning i thought they were running both the democrat and republican party. they were running against excessive spending and washington, d.c. being out of control, after we came up with the budget agreement in 2011 and

2012, after we went through the fiscal cliff, the sequestration. i thought the tea party would declare victory because they got domestic spending to the lowest since president eisenhower. i thought they would declare victory and say let's go on to nsa and spying and other stuff. but they are selfish and destructive. >> do you think they've done some good? >> again, i said they did some good. they got people back to the table. i think speaker gingrich would agree with this. they got washington to curb its appetite for excessive spending, there's more investment that should be made and more job creation that would also help reduce the deficit. >> you mentioned excessive spending. i think this is one of the great challenges that de blasio's going to have in new york. for 20 years you had giuliani and bloomberg. and they've emphasized taking on the work force of the city

government and public safety. now you have someone who's running who's major promise is to fire commissioner kelly, who is committed to much higher taxes. my question is this, to what degree is this victory potentially going to move new york onto the detroit kind of trajectory, when new york was almost ungovernable at one point. i understand it's a great progressive victory to van. but the one prior to giuliani was not one that left you encouraged. >> crime, as you well know, during that period of time was off the charts in major american city for many, many reasons, including the so-called war on drugs. i think bill de blasio is a visionary. he sees the city coming apart because of the growing inequality between the rich and poor. he's a guy who says we've got to find a way to improve education standards or all people, not

just take on the teachers' union but bring people together to fight for real education reform. he's not going to be a polarizing figure. and he's going to be a mayor that will do a good job in bringing new yorkers together. >> one thing that's very interesting, when you look at his numbers, you have 400,000 millionaires in new york city alone. you look -- >> we should all move there. >> now that bill de blasio's the mayor i think i should move there. when you poll them, they're not afraid to put a little more tax dollars toward universal pre-k. crime was falling in new york before stop and frisk. so you have the opportunity to really do in new york city something pretty special where you can have rich and poor together trying to solve these problems. i don't see that kind of leadership coming from republicans. where your jack kemps and others used to bring us together.

>> there are still a lot of republicans who say look, i believe government can do a lot of good. the problem is, it becomes excessively good and does no good because it's so big or we don't have our priorities right. i think republicans should care deeply about education and want to put significant dollars we're the most innovative 50 in the world and we don't make anything anymore. the problem in the republican party today in my opinion is, there's too many people who are middle class people who think we have stopped fighting for them. something they thought ronald reagan did. something they thought other people have done for them. these days, as your perception is, they think we only care about the wealthy. >> that's why newt gingrich's book is really good. he talks about unleashing the potential of people to make this an innovation society. i've been reading. i'm giving you a big plug. >> thank you. and i think breakout is part of that.

one of the places we're seeing the start of the breakout is the governors. the largest experiment in trying to give every child a chance to have a school that work anywhere in america. you look at what's happened with john kasich in ohio. the number of jobs rick perry has created. the amount of reform with scott walker and tonight's victory in new jersey. i think there are a number of republican governed who represent the kind of change that you could make a pretty powerful campaign out of. and really big challenge. i want to put up a poll number that will not make governor christie happy. the question was asked, if the candidates in 2016 are clinton and christie, this is in christie's own statement. he is currently today after having just run a campaign for re-election, behind by 49-43.

>> wow! >> that is because voters really know the difference between electing a hillary clinton for president versus chris christie who is anti-union. anti-choice and i don't think his brand of republicanism will stand the test of time. you mentioned governors. we need to add jerry brown. california is doing a great job these days and we don't talk a lot about california. >> let me, if i might. stay here. next, we cease fire. is there anything the two of you can agree on? we also want you at home to weigh in on today's fireback question. after only the's results, how do you think the tea party will emerge? apply stronger or weaker use #crossfire.

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brazile. this is an election night. we wrestled with a variety of political questions. we were not getting anywhere and suddenly, john came one a great topic that our two guests could

be very strong about. >> we agreed with one of the most important events i think to face in america this weekend. the lsu/alabama game. >> lsu. >> we're both for lsu and we beat alabama has to use. >> as a proud graduate of lsu, this week lsu will take down alabama crimson tide. and forgive my red uniform but i'm for lsu. >> we'll get the purple next time. >> i want to thank both of you being here on election night. we don't have to agree on anything political. if you want to be a part of the conversation we're having, you can to go facebook or twitter to weigh in. after only the's results, how do you think the tea party will emerge? right now 37% of you say it will be stronger but 63% say it will be weaker. this debate is going to continue online at cnn.com/crossfire. we want to congratulate you, newt, on the publication of your new book, breakout is an awesome

read. i am from the left. van jones. >> from the right. i'm newt gingrich. agency part of cnn's election coverage, we'll be back at 11:30 for a live edition of crossfire. and erin burnett outfront election special starts right now. good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. outfront, election night in america. the first poll is closing and the tightest and most watched race, virginia. a democrat a close clinton ally is fighting for the governor seat against ken cuccinelli. this is just one of the key races across the nation that we are watching only the. all the news going to be coming in here. i want to go to wolf blitzer as we begin with the latest. wolf? >> thanks very much. we're only seconds away from poll closings in the virginia

governor's race. control of a crucial battleground state clearly on the line. the top contenders, the democrat, terry mcauliffe. the former dnc chairman and close clinton ally. and the republican, ken cuccinelli. the state attorney general. a hero of the tea party movement. we're standing by for results. will the republicans hold on to this race? we cannot make a projection right now. in the commonwealth of virginia, the race cuccinelli, the republican, the democrat, terry mcauliffe and the independent third party candidate, robert sarvis. as we wait for real results to come in to help us make a projection, he with want to share what our early exit poll are revealing. these are estimates. they're based on interviews with a sampling of voters in virginia as they left select polling stations. here are the exit poll results.